Thursday, 18 February 2016

Since last week,
Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi has been on a boil after its students’
union president Kanhaiya Kumar has been arrested on sedition charges for
allegedly organising an event to mark the anniversary of the execution of Afzal
Guru – convicted for attacking the Indian Parliament in 2001 by the Supreme
Court of India.

This has now
becoming a highly contentious issue notching up decibel debates in the public
sphere and media. It has generated impassioned reaction about safeguarding ‘freedom
of speech’, and the ‘right to dissent’, resisting the ‘forces of intolerance’
and upholding the ethos and sanctity of campus politics. The controversy
reached new heights when political stalwarts like Rahul Gandhi joined the
students to protest against the police action, alleging that there is a
conspiracy to swamp campuses with right wing forces, that, they say, want to
silent the critics of the government with coercion and intimidation. In the
heart of all this, is the emotive and sparky issue of being ‘anti-national’ vs ‘state
overreach’.

This week, there
has been ugly scenes of furious lawyers assaulting journalists and roughing up students’
groups perceived by them as anti-nationals outside the court premises where Mr.
Kumar, the arrested student leader, was to be produced. Meanwhile, in Kolkata
the students of Jadavpur University atrociously chanted slogans eulogising Afzal Guru.

The highly
disconcerting and appallingly thuggish behaviour of the lawyers in addition to
the chain of events over issues, which by no means, warrant a crisis of this magnitude
is highly condemnable, baffling and extremely sad for general public who are
more concerned about proper functioning of the government, development and the
economy. It was with this great hope that the majority of the people of India
voted for a change and given a mandate to break the politics of coalition, and
ushered in a stable government.

There are many narratives
to the ongoing tensions, but let’s deal with a few factors just as a common observer.

Afzal Guru

We know he is a terrorist, who plotted the audacious attack on the Indian parliament. He was convicted by
the highest court of the land, and had a fair trial. One fails to understand how can he be a celebrated at all.But then, Indian constitution guarantees Freedom
of Speech, and by that virtue, it is accepted that a statement or a speech
however distasteful it might be must be tolerated. And it is in line with this
principle, this nation even tolerates people who idolise Mahatma Gandhi’s assassinator
or even talk about building his statue. This is the greatness of India’s democracy.
Try saying Hitler is great in Europe.

Anti –India sentiment

There are big
reasons to be worried about it. Any sane government will be concerned and take palliative
action to stop any activity which is deemed anti-national or is seen as a potential
threat to peace and stability of the country. It is more imperative in a
country like India which has been one of the worst victims of unimaginable terror.

In the UK, for
example, government does appeal to the
universities to keep eye of a number of students’ societies of universities
suspected of indulging in activities that might be dangerous to public safety
which includes potential act of terror. Same goes for JNU. If the government had
credible information of ongoing anti- India activity in the campus and acted
accordingly, that’s absolutely fine.

As a citizen of
India, I would strongly criticise Umar Khalid’s action - the man
who conceived the idea of a cultural evening to mark the hanging of Parliament
attack convict Afzal Guru, and as per the the media reports had planned similar
events across the country. To me his
action is highly reprehensible, but as a lay man we have to tolerate him and
let the government judge through its intelligence if actions amount to anti-national
activity. The polity of India is highly susceptible to anti- India elements may
be insurgent separatists’ groups in the north east or the militancy in Kashmir.
And government cannot go soft on it.

The police

Again, based on
media reports, and eye witness accounts circulating in the social media, it
seems the police has picked up the wrong person.It is said that the student leader had gone
to mediate between the organisers of the event and ABVP, the students body of
the BJP, who opposed the event.

That was purely campus politics in action. Ideally, ABVP, could have done a counter rally. If the government
and police had credible intelligence that event was anti-national, they should
have been there before hand and arrested the organisers. But that is not how
Indian system work. The police went in and made a mess of the situation leading
to an explosion of the issue.

This is followed
by irresponsible tweets by the Delhi police and the Home Ministry claiming that
the event had was backed by Pakistani terror groups etc. Can there be any
higher degree of immaturity as shown by the authorities? Where is the evidence?

The lawyers

They have shamed
the nation, the judiciary and the legal fraternity. The anarchic situation that
unfolded outside the court yesterday is shocking and despicable. If they don’t
get the harshest of punishment, ordinary people have a lot of be concerned about

Media

In this case,
they themselves have been attacked hence it is in their interest to blow the
issue up. Unfortunately, if there is one thing that needs reform in this country,
it is the media itself.Raging fire on
the screen with the anchor and the handful of same faces across all channels
and on all topics howling on the screen- this is what India media is. This
privately owned, politically influenced, highly low paid industry thrives on a
few faces and embody a character that undermines the cultural ethos of the
country.

Government

Without getting
in much details, it must be noted from a common man’s perspective that this government
was voted to power with a lot of hope.But ever since it has been in power, there has been recurring incidents that
threaten individual freedom and freedom of expression. Clearly, and very unfortunately
everything India in has political angle and a motive and this incident is no
different. The BJP government needs to rein in on unsavoury, radical leaders
who make inflammatory remarks that potentially, could pose as a threat to the harmony and peace in the country. Is that then not an anti-national activity? India will prosper as long it remains
a liberal democracy.Coming back
to politics, we hope that this issue will not stall the up coming session in
the parliament and will see the passage of big ticket reforms including GST. The country cannot be held hostage by left leaning intellectuals and political groups or campus politics, just the way the right wing groups have no business in creating mayhem in the country.

Wednesday, 3 February 2016

AS Myanmar emerges from decades of international isolation, there is
a new found optimism and hope amongst the citizens of Yangon for a better
future.

Yangon city centre

Moe Kyaw, 37, reflects this optimism.Having lived in Singapore for almost 17
years, he returned to his country in 2012 shortly after Myanmar began the
process of political reforms. He saved enough money to buy a tiny apartment in
one of the decrepit residential buildings in a Yangon street and a car. He now
works as a taxi driver earning $200 a month and attends a vocational school
where he learns computer programming.

Kyaw is well informed about international affairs and politics, and
his aspirations are strongly tied with the country’s future. He says, “it is beginning
of a new era", he is hopeful that Myanmar will come into terms with its past
and will move on the path of prosperity.

“Our country has been plundered and destroyed for six decades by the
military, but now there is a lot of hope. It is full of opportunities
and natural resources. We need to rebuild our country. We have full faith in
our lady (Aung Sun Suu Kyi),” says Kyaw.

Though Myanmar began the political reforms in 2010, many are waiting
to see how will the process eventually shape up. On 1st February, the new parliament
convened for its opening session. Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s National League for
Democracy (NLD) got a thumping majority in the elections held in November last
year. The election process was seen as credible by international observers. Despite
this, the country’s constitution debars Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming
president as her late husband and two sons have British passports. The military
still retains 25% of the parliamentary seats and appoints the powerful home, defence
and border- affairs ministers. The military also passed a bill which grants
blanket immunity to ex- presidents from prosecution.

However, following the political reforms foreign investments have
been soaring. In 2014, it touched a $8 billion, one of the highest in the ASEAN
region. Japan particularly has been one of the biggest donor and also an
investor in a range of sectors like manufacturing, insurance and infrastructure.
According to Devex, a private group tracking development aid, Japan accounted
for 35% of global Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans to Myanmar in
2013. In 2015, a major Japanese backed investment zone Thilawa special
economic zone started its operation just outside Yangon.

In Yangon, the locals welcome the Japanese investment but remain wary
of investments by Myanmar’s long term ally and influential neighbour China. There
is general feeling that the China is draining the country’s natural resources. The
popular public opposition has lead to suspension and cancellation of key
projects notably the Chinese-backed Myitsone Dam in 2011 and Kyaukpyu-Yunnan
railway project.

San Tung Khint, a director of a Yangon based company says, “the foreign
investments are vital to our country’s growth. We need training on capacity
building, our bureaucracy needs to be reformed and we need technology to leap
frog in every sphere of development.”

He adds, “we need to carefully manage our resources and not get
exploited over dependent on a country. We sit between two economic power houses
India and China, and we need investment from both and others without compromising
our national interest.”

Hindu deities at the Shwedagon Pagoda

The Burmese workforce is young and cheap and poised to be one of the
hub for the garment manufacturing in years to come. However, despite the potential
there is surprisingly low investment from the country’s eastern neighbour India.

India enjoys a strong historical, cultural and spiritual people – to -
people ties with Myanmar. A guide at the famous Shwedagon Pagoda Temple in
central Yangon shows the influence of Buddhism and also Hinduism in Myanmar’s
cultural and religious life. The temple celebrates Buddha in all its formations
and glory. There are deities of Hindu gods and goddesses and pictorial
depiction of Asoka, a powerful emperor of ancient India.

Mr Win, the guide says, “almost 60 % of our cultural and religious
life bear similarity with India, 30 % from Mongolia and 10 % from Tibet.” Most
people that this writer met in the Pagoda talked about their desire to visit Bodh
Gaya, the birth place of Buddha once in their lifetime.

There are historical reasons for the gap: in Myanmar, until 1947,
the Indians especially Bengalis, Parsis and Tamils formed a sizeable community
contributing to its economy and administration under the British Raj. A large scale
migration began after the Japanese invasion during the World War II. In 1960s, when the military government pursued
the policy of nationalization, a lot of Indian businesses were forced to leave.

In a recent interview to mizzima, a Myanmar online news portal,
the Indian ambassador to Myanmar, Gautam Mukhopadhaya said that lack of Indian investment
is primarily due to three major factors: first there is a lack of information on
both sides about each other’s economy and opportunities; second, there are no
proper banking channels to facilitate trade and investment; third is poor air connectivity (there is no direct flight between New Delhi and Yangon).
The ambassador points out that India has
been slightly disengaged with Myanmar compared to its other neighbours but
there will be steady rise of Indian investment in the next decade.

the colonial Yangon railway station

The ambassador underlines that Myanmar being an immediate and a big
neighbour is strategically placed in the intersection of India’s two top
foreign policy priorities: one is the neighbourhood first policy, which calls
for a wider engagement between India and its neighbour. Second, for India’s Act
East policy: Myanmar due to its strategic geographical location serves as a
natural transit point to the rest of greater Mekong region.

Back in Yangon, it is quite evident that the process of rebuilding the
country is going to a big challenge in a number of fronts. The key priorities are
to end long – standing conflicts with ethnic armed insurgency groups, diversifying
the economy, strengthening democratic institutions and capacity building.

Young people say the country’s
higher education system is in a dismal state. Marisa Charles a social worker
says, “Until very recently there were no private schools in the country and the
quality of education wasn’t up to the mark. In the university some courses are
in English because the books are in English but they are taught in Burmese. So
students tend to memorise their lessons.”

In the rural areas Burmese language is not spoken by the ethnic minorities
so they don’t understand what’s being taught. There is now a big push to teach
the basic subjects the ethnic minority languages.

Post reforms a lot of INGOS and development agencies have started working
in the country. UN agencies are putting a lot of resources in fighting human trafficking,
addressing gaps in gender equality, improving reproductive health services
responding to and preventing gender based violence and integrating gender
equality and human right’s perspectives into national polices, development
frameworks and laws. India is particular is helping in capacity building and
political reforms.

In many ways, ordinary people in Myanmar are very positive about the
wind of change that is sweeping through the country. In Yangon, one can notice
the country's potential. They have got the basic civic sense right: traffic
snarls are serpentine, yet no one honks, no lane jumping and it's largely
clean. If they get the policies right and investment is properly directed, it's
surely poised to be the next big thing in Asia.